Jul 29 2023
By:
Siddarth Gundapaneni
In a natural state of affairs, competing firms tend to bring out entrepreneurial innovations motivated by profits. On the other hand, harsh regulations and targeted taxation of a particular industry tend to stifle the crucial incentives in place for entrepreneurs to create the profit opportunities never imagined/brough...
Jul 29 2023
By:
Pierre Lemieux
Reading The Economist, I stumbled on a passage on which any economist who remembers what he learned about national accounting in graduate school or perhaps even in college, would stumble, even if the confusion is pretty common (“Could America’s Economy Escape Recession?” The Economist, dated July 20, 2023): Alth...
Jul 28 2023
By:
Scott Sumner
Marcus Nunes directed me to a recent post where John Cochrane advocated price level targeting. I agree that price level targeting is superior to inflation targeting. He then responded to questions about nominal GDP level targeting: Many comments here and on twitter ask about a nominal GDP target. I'm not a fan, for ...
Jul 28 2023
By:
Veronique de Rugy
One of the most common refrains from politicians of both parties who want to justify their new programs or higher spending is that it will create jobs. Then there are those who argue that the goal of industrial policy is the creation of "good jobs." I wish they would stop so we could have a conversation about what indu...
Jul 27 2023
By:
Pierre Lemieux
Former president Donald Trump wrote about his possible indictment related to his trying to stay in power after he lost the 2020 election: "An Indictment of me would only further destroy our Country." A critical observer (perhaps under the influence of Public Choice analysis) may reflect that the word capitalized sho...
Jul 27 2023
By:
David Henderson
I brought Adam Smith's The Theory of Moral Sentiments (TMS) with me on my vacation this year. My plan was to read most of it, in preparation for a talk I'm giving in December for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) in Monterey. I found it tough slogging. I could typically read only about 10 pages at bedtime...
Jul 26 2023
By:
David Henderson
Two stories about cottage life in a climate with a tough winter. When I come to my cottage in Minaki, Ontario, Canada, which my grandfather built in 1921 or 1922, I start to develop skills at fixing little things and then those skills atrophy through the other 49.5 weeks of the year. This year was no different. B...
Read this Alberto Mingardi Liberty Classic
Aug 5 2019
By Alberto Mingardi
"My freedom ends where yours begins" is the sort of truism most people happily relate to, when discussing politics and whatever idea of liberty they hold. It is based upon "the consciousness of limits which the presence of other men having like claims necessitates" (The Principles of Ethics,1 II, §267). Such conscious...
Jul 25 2023
By:
Scott Sumner
You've probably heard the phrase "Baptists and bootleggers", referring to the odd coalition that favored the prohibition of alcohol.That phrase came to mind when I saw the following graph: There's a recent trend away from emphasizing academic factors when determining who gets admitted to college. So who would bene...
Jul 25 2023
By:
David Henderson
One good, one bad, and one piece of trivia that's about the USA. The Good. Recently (actually 2021 and 2023), when I've come to my cottage in Minaki, Ontario, I've stopped at a large Walmart near the Winnipeg airport to stock up. A large percent of the workers there are either Indian or Pakistani (I'm guessing th...
Jul 24 2023
By:
Scott Sumner
Back in 1990, a US diplomat informed Saddam Hussein that his border dispute with Kuwait was of no concern to the US. We all know what happened next. Would Saddam have invaded Kuwait if he had known how the US would respond? I doubt it. In international affairs, misunderstandings can be very costly. Better to make y...
Jul 24 2023
By:
Kevin Corcoran
I’ve written before about how to use the idea of opportunity cost to focus on your decision making – a good rule of thumb when making a choice is to make the opportunity cost explicit. Don’t just say to yourself “I’m going to do X” when making a choice – say “I’m going to do X, instead of doing Y,” ...
Jul 24 2023
By:
David Henderson
A trip report about three good things, one of which might annoy people who already think I'm "privileged." I'm telling this story partly because I like telling stories about my life but also partly because I've noticed that many people complain about bad service from for-profit businesses but don't much mention the ...
Jul 23 2023
By:
Sam Branthoover
Department stores almost always have sales and clearances. These clearances may present themselves broadly as some kind of promotion, like “30% off all shirts,” or “everything up to 40% off!”; or, they may appear as simple tag-price changes. Many interpret these discounts as deception; stores want you to think ...
Jul 23 2023
By:
Pierre Lemieux
An apparently banal story in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal reveals much about current democracy. The reader familiar with the economic analysis of politics (public choice) may read the story as follows: Joe Biden and his supporters are trying hard to prove to voters that “Bidenomics” has done much for them by s...
Jul 22 2023
By:
Scott Sumner
The Economist has an interesting article discussing the increasingly close connection between India and the United Arab Emirates. I couldn't help noticing a number of parallels between India/UAE and China/Singapore:1. India and China both have 1.425 billion people. 2. India and China both have a lot of bureaucrati...